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How can I get programmatically the list of installed "Routing Apps" on iOS?

The reasoning behind this is, that iOS offers heaps of navigation apps and I don't want to maintain a list of the manually.

Apple provides a new functionality since iOS 6 to register your app as a Routing App as described here http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/LocationAwarenessPG/ProvidingDirections/ProvidingDirections.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009497-CH8-SW7

If you then start the routing in the regular maps app you are presented a list of apps that are capable to route you as you can see here:

enter image description here

I couldn't find a way to get the list. Of course I could query if one particular app is installed by using canOpenURL: in UIApplication, but this would be quite tedious.

I know that this must be possible because the famous "Where to?" app offers such a functionality.

Any hints appreciated!

Klaas
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  • My first guess is that they use the App URL schema's to check wether the app is installed, even if this looks tedious. – rckoenes Mar 27 '13 at 14:37
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    Where to also presents a list of Routing Apps "From the App Store". This can't be done by querying the url schemes ;( – Klaas Mar 27 '13 at 15:08
  • Those you might be able to get by querying the appstore for routing apps. http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/documentation/itunes-store-web-service-search-api.html – rckoenes Mar 27 '13 at 15:10
  • @rckoenes: As far as I know, there's no key that lets you search for apps that handle a specific URL scheme. If they've added that since I last looked… very cool. (You could, of course, do a search to find out which well-known routing apps are available in the user's country's App Store, but that doesn't avoid the need to have a list of well-known apps and walk the list.) – abarnert Mar 28 '13 at 23:51
  • Is it possible that the list is displayed by `MapKit` itself, not by Where to? In other words, you can't get a list of routing apps, but you can call a method that pops up the same "choose a routing app" form that Maps does. – abarnert Mar 28 '13 at 23:58
  • @abarnert Hm, I did some further research and there's the SKStoreProductViewController that looked promising. But unfortunately this has no parameter to filter by routing apps as well. – Klaas Mar 29 '13 at 00:35

2 Answers2

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Due to iOS 6 sandboxing, there is no true way to do this because you can't access anything not in your own address space. The Maps application can do this because Apple retains the right to access any data that it wants on your phone, including the apps you have installed.

amarkon
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  • Hm, but the linked "Where to?" app does exactly what I'm asking for. – Klaas Mar 28 '13 at 23:36
  • You would have to have a list of all (or most) routing apps available in the App Store so you can query for the apps' URLs. – amarkon Mar 29 '13 at 15:30
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Ok, I give it a try myself. Maybe the author of "Where to?" does maintain a list of routing apps and checks whether an app is installed or not by querying the url scheme of that app. For all apps that he finds he presents a "ROUTE" button. For all apps the he does not find, he presents an entry that links to the app store.

Of course this would not list all routing apps but it creates the impression that it does by having a long self-compiled list of routing apps.

EDIT: This is a screenshot from "Where to?":

Screenshot from "Where to?" It looks quite similar, but you can actually see the difference

Klaas
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  • Are you using a store search to find the prices, or are those hardcoded into your data? (It would be a but weird to offer Street View to a US user for 0.89€ instead of $0.99… or, for that matter, to offer TomTom Europa to a US user at all, since she can't buy it in the US store.) – abarnert Mar 29 '13 at 01:15
  • One more thing: Your form obviously doesn't look the same as Apple's. Does the one in Where To? look exactly the same as Apple's? Does it offer the same apps? If the answer to either one is "no", it seems pretty plausible that this is effectively what they're doing. – abarnert Mar 29 '13 at 01:17
  • Sorry, I was just speculating about "Where to"'s solution and the screenshot is actually from my "Where to" installation on my German phone. – Klaas Mar 29 '13 at 02:15